Hazel and Philissa in İstanbul

On the fırst day of spring, Hazel arrived in İstanbul with her friend, Philissa, for a visit. Hazel was the first member of my family to visit me in İstanbul. It was strange and awesome to see her. We set their bags at my place and then started on a tour of the city. I loved them around and not just because I had taken the day off work. One thing that became quickly apparent was that despite the weather being a bit gray that first day, they both seemed to absolutely love the city.

It was impossible to walk very far in the city without seeing pastries! One thing about a visit to İstanbul is that there is almost never enough time to try all the food. 

I took them to the modern part of the city, to Europe's biggest shopping mall. In the upper left of the photo, you can see the "3" of the world's largest mechanical clock which makes up the ceiling of the mall. In the lower right is a stage sitting next to a small pond.

One evening I got to introduce Hazel and Philissa to my friends, Pınar and Kerem. We met up in a part of town with which Pınar is very familiar. She took us to a couple of different cafes/pubs. On the way back from dinner and coffee, we stopped in a pastry shop to buy some delights for the following morning. Somehow we got to talking with a couple that was in the shop. They were getting a cake for a birthday party and invited us along. We agreed and followed them to a pub where there was live music and the birthday boy (just turned 21), sitting with a group of friends. The whole experience of that evening with them was really quite excellent. We were all pleased with our luck.

We spent the last full day together exploring some touristic places such as Dolmabahçe Palace. It had been years since I was there. Somehow I had forgotten the sheer impressiveness of the Ceremonial Hall with its 4.5 ton chandelier.

We also went to the Büyük Mecidiye Mosque in Ortaköy. There are scarfs just inside the entrance for women who don't have one and wish to enter. Sporting them gave Hazel and Philissa a noticeably different look.

Hazel and Philissa's visit was short, but it was packed full of fun and adventures for all three of us. I was glad to have had their company, and hope to see them both again sometime soon.

Rizespor, Friends and Turkish

A few weeks ago, I went to see Freddy Adu and Çaykur Rizespor play in Güngören. Güngören! Has a nice literal meaning, but is otherwise a very bland outpost far from the center of İstanbul. I'm not here to rag on Güngören, though. It was a actually kind of liberating to ride outside the city and see a different place. The fans of Rizespor were my people. I really need to get back to Rize sometime, but that's a different topic. I guess the second to last thing I'll say about this is I rather enjoy being at football matches of smaller teams. It feels more personal. And the last thing I'll say about this is that a strange emotion came over me when I thought the following: I live in İstanbul and now I have just traveled to the outskirts of that city, where  I am standing in a stadium and watching Freddy Adu of all people playing for a team from a city in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. I guess I just never expected to find myself in that particular situation!

More recently, I started meeting new people again. I find I'm speaking more Turkish as new friends of mine are in various stages of learning English. The language is growing on me very quickly these days. I feel its effects on my mind like a drug almost. Some nights it keeps me awake and other nights it helps me sleep. The feelings that come while forging new interpersonal and linguistic connections are enchantment and delight.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures. Irony is getting my camera cleaned and then forgetting it at work on a Friday. So these were from my phone. More pictures to come as the weather is improving here and I'm getting out more.

Enchanted and delighted,
Jeremy

Fun times in Taksim

I spent a few nights last week in Taksim. Here are a couple pictures.

 

The biggest changes in my life are not that big yet, but they are exciting. My cousin Hazel is coming to visit me on the first day of spring. That's in 2 weeks! She'll be here for a few days and I'm really excited about it. She'll be the first member of my family to come visit me here.

In other news, my friend Kerem, and I are in the planning stages of some short documentaries we'll be making over the next few months. We've limited ourselves very little as to where exactly we film, who we interview and how we'll frame the documentaries, but we want to focus on political and cultural themes.

Seems life is accelerating as I'm trying to figure out what's next and pursuing some hobbies in the meantime.

Parts of the city I love and hate

I love İstanbul. It has something for everyone. However there is one part of town I never liked much: Sultanahmet. It is the most touristic district by far, and I don't really like tourists. I don't like tourists much because I feel that a lot of them just take pictures and a souvenir and otherwise don't really give a damn about the culture, language, politics and/or what I would call the 'real lives' of the people here. I suppose that's always the complaint about tourists.

So here's the thing... I don't hate them so much anymore. In fact it's been so long since I saw a bunch of tourists that it's kind of fun to see them and they make me really curious. Anyway, I was in Sultanahmet and that queasiness I was expecting to get never came. Indeed I sort of enjoyed myself. I even went there twice this weekend.

The first trip was to several market places including the so called Grand Bazaar. I had a few items on my shopping list. One fellow in particular on my mind was Brett, who briefly told me of his most recent trip to the bazaar in 1974 and how, but more interestingly why, he bought a cane. I saw some canes and thought of his story.


Being in Sultanahmet with my pal Stewart from work, we stopped at the carpet shop in which he used to work. I had been there once before and the warm greetings, delightful conversation and free beer was waiting once again. However, this time there was something else. They had a craftswoman making a carpet. What a thing to observe! That was Saturday.

Sunday was glorious. I met the sisters and a cousin of one of my friends from work. This included a walk through Kadıköy to the docks and a trip to Sultanahmet. When we got to the docks, I saw something that made me really quite happy. The Social Democratic Party was having a traffic-stopping march. I love to see people out on the street representing their political views. It shows that people care in a world where it seems all too few do.

It seems that most Turks living is İstanbul pretty much never go to Sultanahmet, despite the high concentration of historical sites and similar attractions. So my trip there with my new friend was more of a trip for her than for me, even though she has lived in İstanbul all her life and I only just came here.

The whole weekend was really nice, especially since the weather was nice. Monday was ok, too. In the evening on Monday, I went to Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium to witness the chaos of the Fenerbahçe fans getting ready for a big match.

On my way there, one thought I kept having was that it is too bad I am not a Fenerbahçe fan. I mean, how convenient would it be, given how close I am to the stadium. I thought of my friends and acquaintances in the US who are Fenerbahçe fans and how jealous they must be of me in that moment, standing in front of the stadium with money enough in my pocket for a ticket.